If it seemed sudden that the Winnipeg Jets showed off their new look yesterday, it was.

The Jets and True North Sports and Entertainment have had a plan all along to show off their new wares and their new look but they moved quickly yesterday when a leaked photo of new Jets merchandise hit the Internet showing off their new look before they wanted it seen. Not long after that photo started making the rounds on Twitter and elsewhere across the web, True North called a press conference to debut their new look themselves.

If that sounds like a coincidence to you, you’re not keeping close tabs on how True North has been running the show in Winnipeg all along. The Winnipeg Sun’s Kirk Penton tells us how things broke down for Jets owner Mark Chipman in showing off their new look.

The Jets were planning to release the logo on Friday all along, but that plan hit a snag earlier this week, causing a delay. Once they learned the logo had been leaked, however, they had no choice but to go ahead and unveil it.

They were not happy about the security breach.

“We had a great deal of security as the boxes (of T-shirts) were unloaded,” Chipman said. “Every one was checked off one at a time, and as we were going through that process my BlackBerry lit up and there was a picture of the T-shirt.

“We subsequently discovered that some of the boxes had been opened. We have no idea where it occurred. It didn’t occur in our building. We know that.

“But somewhere along the line somebody cracked open a box and took a photograph. For what purpose I don’t know.”

We’re guessing the purpose was to be able to show it off on the web and yell, “First!” in their own special way.

It sounds like the kind of thing that belongs in a crime caper, except just on a really low level and not as malicious. All right, so it’d be a great direct-to-video movie starring Dean Cain.

Still, it’s better for the Jets to show off their new identity and start selling the new goods to a market in Winnipeg that’s been dying to buy up just about anything and everything with the new Jets look on it. It’s disappointing that True North didn’t have this ready to go at the draft, but now that their new look is out there it’s time to count down until their new jerseys are unveiled in September.